*Note* first eleven chapters can be found here - https://dawnwuxia.wordpress.com/about/ 

Chapter 3 - Solace

The training ground was empty, and no one was even within the vicinity of the area. After all, it was nearly nighttime now, and there were no classes this late. Most of the clansmen didn’t bother to train more than one or two hours a day after classes, but that was normally with a friend. Therefore, the time where the training ground was most crowded was around mid-afternoon.

Right now, the 3 moons were already high up in the air, each glowing with its faint red aura and exuding its noble, dignified atmosphere. It was as if a mighty ruler was looking down upon his subjects.

Under this red glow of the 3 moons, a boy was training with a wooden sword that he had grabbed from a weapon rack. His swinging speed was quite fast; his peers would not be even able to make out his movements and would only be able to see a blur as the sword chopped downwards. The chop had a graceful aura about it when going down, but when landing; the destructive force that it carried made the sword style look unrefined and chaotic.

However, it was just hollow strength.

One could not sense nor see any qi on the body of the boy.

Naturally, the power of his swing would have to be limited to the constraints of the human body as well.

Unless one could find a way to break past those genetic limits…

The boy quickly pushed this thought out of his head. How could he, someone without any way of cultivating qi, find a way to do this? It was better to give up on this hope of becoming strong now than raising his hopes up then dropping them.  

“I still wish that I can find a way to cultivate qi and not be looked down upon.”

The boy sighed. He knew that something like this was next to impossible. It was a miracle that he would still be able to generate qi from his body, but would not be able to cultivate it. 

He lifted his hand up, and a faint 6-coloured light surrounded it. However, as it started to travel inside his body, he could feel it being rejected by his body.

“Do the heavens have something against me? Well, I can’t change things right now. The only thing that I can do is to keep on training hard.”

Picking up the wooden sword again, the boy continued swinging until he had swung 600 times and exhausted himself.

“Phew…”

The boy deeply exhaled. Although physical combat training was tiring for the boy, it was a type of comfort, a type of protection. Along with it came the hope of becoming strong, and not being looked down upon.

After all, he had hopes and ambitions as well. Even though his strength was nowhere near accomplishing those, can one really blame an 11 year old for having them?

Although the boy had seen the dark side of the world, he had only touched the surface of it.

Only those who personally experience it can understand.

The mental capacity for an 11 year old, no matter how tough, will still find such filth hard to accept in human nature.

He slowly got up from his meditative position, and began walking towards the houses behind the Tiang Clan mansion.

His residence was the one in the furthest back – also the most dangerous position among the entire Clan base.

The base was situated in the mountains after all, and behind the outer sect villas was an unsafe area.

Of course, since the boy had lived here his entire life, he naturally knew what places were generally safe and which ones were dangerous.

The area that he had picked medicine from was a relatively safe one. However, no one can completely predict what will happen. Even though ‘safe’ meant mostly safe, accidents could still occur…

Under the guide of the faint red moonlight, the boy slowly trudged to his villa. As he arrived, he noticed that the door was open, and there was trash strewn everywhere outside.

He quickened his pace, and arrived at a matter of seconds. When he took a look inside, he sighed in disappointment and self-pity.

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It was just as he expected; the other children probably broke into his residence and trashed it again. However, this time was a bit extreme. His stuff was everywhere, the drawers were broken and the bed flipped over. The wooden floor even had some cracks in it.

Looking at this mess, the boy groaned. It was going to take forever to clean up the mess outside, not to mention inside, which was nearly 3 times worse than the outside of his house.

However, he was used to physical labor due to his arduous training and getting beaten up every day; his body’s resilience could be compared with people 3-4years older than him.

Calming himself, the boy began to pick up all his personal belongings. It seemed that the other children really did trash his stuff, as when he finally finished, he found out to his astonishment that almost half of his possessions were completely destroyed, and completely unusable.

The boy plopped onto the floor, and groaned.

“They’re really too brutal… I just went clothes shopping a week ago…”

The boy was complaining to himself, and even thought of telling a Clan Elder. But then, he eliminated that thought from his mind.

What use would it do if he complained? He was pretty much useless anyway, and from the expression on everyone’s faces whenever he passed, he could see that they just wanted him to go disappear.

If he was beaten up, or bullied, the Clan probably wouldn’t care. If he died, the Clan would probably rejoice and tell everyone to not become like the incompetent person that he was.

“Ugh…”

The boy moaned to himself once again. There really was nothing that he could do about it. When he got back up however, anger could be seen within his eyes. Deep, searing anger. The accumulation of years of hatred. He emotionlessly patted his pants, then began to pack food, water, money, and clothes. It looked as if he was planning to take a trip somewhere, with the amount of items he was taking.

“It was a good thing that I saved all this food, water, and money for an emergency situation. I really can’t take being in the Clan anymore. I’ll let fate decide what happens to me.”

Under the dawning moon, a silhouette of a young person could be seen, climbing the rock wall that led toward the backside of the mountain range. This was the wall that separated the Clan’s territory from the uncharted. It was 20 feet tall, but it was not a problem for the boy since there were various cracks in the wall that he could climb on and over. They were probably the scars left by magical beasts.

Taking advantage of his small body and durable shoes, he climbed to the top of the wall. Before scaling down however, he took one last look at the outer villas. This was still where he had lived his life for 11 long years, after all. He still felt somewhat emotionally attached to it.

But the rest of his gaze was filled with hatred. These long years of torment and the hell that all of you put me through, and the loss of that girl… I swear, I will definitely return and take revenge on all of you! I will pay back the injustice that you showed both of us that day a hundredfold!

Silently making this promise to himself and the spirit of that girl, the boy clenched his teeth, and started going downwards.

What was on the other side? Would he have a decent shot at survival? Would he find something to counter his disability? The boy knew that the answer to most of these questions was no.

However, he chose to hang onto hope.

Basic human nature. The will to survive, the mentality to hope. The determination to grow, the knowledge from past mistakes.

Those are wonderful elements that humans possess. Learning from mistakes, accumulating resentment and hatred, then the determination to carry out one’s goal…

Without knowing it, the boy had already set down a strong foundation for a future goal…

To become strong enough to exact revenge for himself and that girl from 3 years ago!